Tag Results
Solicitor who used office account “as personal account” is struck off
Friday, 21 July 2017A sole practitioner who did not have a client account and admitted using his office account “at times as a personal account” has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. The tribunal heard that Michael Healey, based in Liverpool, misappropriated over £31,000 of client money before going bankrupt.
Tags: Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Finance, Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
Regulators to take price transparency rules slowly as SRA outlines limited pilot
Friday, 30 June 2017Legal regulators have responded cautiously to the Competition and Markets Authority’s recommendations on price transparency, pledging to pilot regulatory requirements and test their effects on the lawyers and firms they regulate. They promised to implement controversial measures to encourage lawyers to publish prices if possible.
Tags: Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Competition and Markets Authority, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Barristers, Latest news, Legal Executives, Other lawyers, Solicitors
Clerk who pursued PI claims against wishes of clients banned by SDT
Friday, 16 June 2017A clerk who pursued personal injury claims against the wishes of his clients has been banned from working for law firms by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Michael Davis said he was acting “in accordance with office procedures” and was managing up to 400 live cases at any one time.
Tags: personal injury, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
SQE could be delayed beyond 2020, SRA admits as top City firm partner lays out concerns
Thursday, 15 June 2017The Solicitors Qualifying Exam could be postponed beyond its launch date of 2020, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has admitted. In a further development, the regulator has said it was possible that the all-powerful central assessor of the new exam could also be a course provider.
Tags: Solicitors Regulation Authority, SQE
Posted in hrtraining, Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
Partners at Yorkshire firm fined over conflicts of interest
Friday, 9 June 2017Two partners who acted both for former clients of a law firm shut down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and for one of that firm’s solicitors have been fined by a disciplinary tribunal. However, they had to accept higher fines than had been agreed with the regulator to satisfy the tribunal’s view of the seriousness of their misconduct.
Tags: conflicts of interest, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
Partners who were “authors of their own misfortune” fined £35,000 by SDT
Thursday, 8 June 2017Two partners at a high street firm have each been fined £35,000 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for multiple accounts rule breaches – very much at the higher end of the financial penalties it usually hands out. One was also found to have breached the money laundering regulations and both failed to act with integrity.
Tags: money laundering, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
SRA asks High Court for tougher sanctions for solicitors in £21m Ecohouse collapse
Tuesday, 6 June 2017The High Court will hear an appeal by the Solicitors Regulation Authority later this month for tougher sanctions on two West Midlands solicitors, suspended for their involvement in a collapsed Brazilian property investment scheme. But the scheme’s liquidators have “reluctantly” decided not pursue legal action against their firm.
Tags: Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
SRA fails with bid to strike out solicitor’s damages claim
Thursday, 25 May 2017The Solicitors Regulation Authority has failed to strike out a damages claim by a solicitor at the High Court who claims it breached his confidentiality when it handed over documents from the firm to that solicitor’s former partner in relation to a separate legal action.
Tags: Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors
Personal injury firm sold multi-track work after “sudden and unexpected” rejection by bank
Tuesday, 23 May 2017A personal injury firm was forced to sell its multi-track work at a “considerable” loss after the “sudden and unexpected” withdrawal of support from its bank, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has heard as it fined two partners and a non-lawyer partner for retaining unpaid professional disbursements in its office account.
Tags: personal injury, Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, Solicitors Regulation Authority
Posted in Latest news, Legal Services Act, Regulation, Solicitors
Training reforms no “panacea for diversity”, SRA report warns
Thursday, 4 May 2017The training reforms unveiled last week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority are “not a panacea for diversity” though they could make a “significant contribution”, a report for the regulator has concluded. The report also warned that the arrival of the solicitors qualifying examination in 2020 would make the training market “more complex to navigate”.
Tags: diversity, Solicitors Regulation Authority, SQE
Posted in hrtraining, Latest news, Regulation, Solicitors